Orphans of the Sky

The Jordan Foundation sponsored the Proxima Centauri Expedition in 2119, in attempt to reach the nearer stars of the galaxy. But that was far in the mythic past. The original purpose of the Ship's epic voyage has long been forgotten, and for generations the giant spaceship, lost between the stars, is the only world that the people aboard have known. A strange civilization has evolved, with its own superstitions, savage religion, rigid class structure and mutant outcasts.

The Stars, Like Dust

Biron Farrell was young and naïve, but he was growing up fast. A radiation bomb planted in his dorm room changed him from an innocent student at the University of Earth to a marked man, fleeing desperately from an unknown assassin. He soon discovers that, many light-years away, his father has been murdered. Stunned, grief-stricken, and outraged, Biron is determined to uncover the reasons behind his father's death.

Pebble in the Sky

One moment Joseph Schwartz is a happily retired tailor in Chicago, 1949. The next he's a helpless stranger on Earth during the heyday of the first Galactic Empire. Earth, as he soon learns, is a backwater, just a pebble in the sky, despised by all the other 200 million planets of the Empire because its people dare to claim it's the original home of man. And Earth is poor, with great areas of radioactivity ruining much of its soil - so poor that everyone is sentenced to death at the age of 60. Joseph Schwartz is 62.

The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city - intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands: unify earth, eliminate poverty, and end war. With little rebellion, humankind agreed, and a golden age began.

The Rolling Stones

One of Heinlein's best-loved works, The Rolling Stones follows the rollicking adventures of the Stone family as they tour the solar system. It doesn't seem likely for twins to have the same middle name. Even so, it's clear that Castor and Pollux Stone both have "Trouble" written in that spot on their birth certificates. Of course, anyone who's met their grandmother Hazel would know they came by it honestly.

The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul

Kate Schechter would like to know why everyone she meets knows her name - and why Thor, the Norse god of thunder, keeps showing up on her doorstep. Dirk Gently, detective and refrigerator wrestler, can uncover the mystery, and only the absurdist wit of Douglas Adams can recount them with such relentless humor.

The Android's Dream

A human diplomat creates an interstellar incident when he kills an alien diplomat in a most unusual way. To avoid war, Earth's government must find an equally unusual object: A type of sheep ("The Android's Dream"), used in the alien race's coronation ceremony. To find the sheep, the government turns to Harry Creek, ex-cop, war hero and hacker extraordinaire.

Call of Cthulhu and Other Stories

At the heart of these stories, as with all the best of Lovecraft’s work, is the belief that the Earth was once inhabited by powerful and evil gods, just waiting for the chance to recolonise their planet. Cthulhu is one such god, lurking deep beneath the sea until called into being by cult followers who – like all humans – know not what they do.

The Search for Exoplanets: What Astronomers Know

As recently as 1990, it seemed plausible that the solar system was a unique phenomenon in our galaxy. Thanks to advances in technology and clever new uses of existing data, now we know that planetary systems and possibly even a new Earth can be found throughout galaxies near and far.

Gilgamesh: A New English Version

This brilliant new treatment of the world's oldest epic is a literary event on par with Seamus Heaney's wildly popular Beowulf translation. Esteemed translator and best-selling author Stephen Mitchell energizes a heroic tale so old it predates Homer's Iliad by more than a millennium.

The Invisible Man

On a freezing February day, a stranger emerges from out of the gray to request a room at a local provincial inn. Who is this out-of-season traveler? More confounding is the thick mask of bandages obscuring his face. Why does he disguise himself in this manner and keep himself hidden away in his room? Aroused by trepidation and curiosity, the local villagers bring it upon themselves to find the answers.

The Hunt for Vulcan: …And How Albert Einstein Destroyed a Planet, Discovered Relativity, and Deciphered the Universe

For more than 50 years, the world's top scientists searched for the "missing" planet Vulcan, whose existence was mandated by Isaac Newton's theories of gravity. Countless hours were spent on the hunt for the elusive orb, and some of the era's most skilled astronomers even claimed to have found it. There was just one problem: It was never there.

Veiled Alliances: A Prequel Novella to the Saga of Seven Suns

This audiobook shows the origin of the green priests on Theroc, the first Roamer skymining operations on a gas-giant planet, the discovery of the Klikiss robots entombed in an abandoned alien city, the initial Ildiran expedition to Earth, the rescue of the generation ship Burton and the tragedy that leads to sinister breeding experiments. Veiled Alliances is an excellent starting point for readers new to the Saga, as well as an unforgettable adventure for fans of the series.

The Andromeda Strain

The United States government is given a warning by the preeminent biophysicists in the country: current sterilization procedures applied to returning space probes may be inadequate to guarantee uncontaminated re-entry to the atmosphere.

Time for the Stars

Travel to other planets is now a reality, and with overpopulation stretching the resources of Earth, the necessity of finding habitable worlds is growing ever more urgent. There’s a problem though—because the spaceships are slower than light, any communication between the exploring ships and Earth would take years.

Tom and Pat are identical twin teenagers. As twins they’ve always been close, so close that it seemed like they could read each other’s minds.

The Twilight Zone Radio Dramas, Volume 1

Experience one of television’s greatest science fiction series: The Twilight Zone. This collection of episodes is fully dramatized for audio and features a full cast, music, sound effects, and performances by some of today’s biggest celebrities.

Candide (AudioGO Edition)

When first published in 1759, Candide became an instant best seller and is now regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. Voltaire’s preoccupations with evil and with various kinds of human folly and intolerance found a perfect vehicle in this philosophical tale. A master storyteller, he combined often wildly entertaining action with profoundly serious sense, parodying the traditional chivalric and oriental tales with which his public was more familiar.

Who Goes There?: The Novella That Formed the Basis of 'THE THING'

Who Goes There?, the novella that formed the basis of the film The Thing, is the John W. Campbell classic about an antarctic research camp that discovers and thaws the ancient body of a crash-landed alien.

The Maltese Falcon

Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon, first serialized in a magazine in 1930, is best known through the iconic Humphrey Bogart film of 1941. But it was the book that created the classic "noir" genre with its tough private detective threading his cool way between the criminals and the law. Sam Spade, the private eye solving the mystery of the Maltese statuette, was the template for Philip Marlowe and a host of others…. but they come no more shrewd and cunning with Hammett peppering the text with one-liners.

I, Robot

They mustn't harm a human being, they must obey human orders, and they must protect their own existence...but only so long as that doesn't violate rules one and two. With these Three Laws of Robotics, humanity embarked on a bold new era of evolution that would open up enormous possibilities, and unforeseen risks.

A Study in Scarlet: A Sherlock Holmes Novel

In the first of all the Sherlock Holmes stories, Dr. John Watson, discharged from military service after suffering severe wounds, is at a loose end until a chance encounter leads him to take rooms with a remarkable young man. The arrogant, irascible Sherlock Holmes is a master chemist, a talented musician, and an expert on all aspects of crime.

Calculating God

In this Hugo-nominated novel, an alien walks into a museum and asks if he can see a paleontologist. But the arachnid ET hasn't come aboard a rowboat with the Pope and Stephen Hawking (although His Holiness does request an audience later). Landing at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, the spacefarer, Hollus, asks to compare notes on mass extinctions with resident dino-scientist Thomas Jericho.

If one George Carlin audio is funny, then two are funnier and three must be funniest, right? That's our thinking behind this new collection. t's a HighBridge library of laugh-out-loud, award-winning recordings featuring George himself performing many of his best bits.

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

On a quiet fall evening in the small, peaceful town of Mill Valley, California, Dr. Miles Bennell discovers an insidious, horrifying plot. Silently, subtly, almost imperceptibly, alien life-forms are taking over the bodies and minds of his neighbors, his friends, his family, the woman he loves, and the world as he knows it.

Publisher's Summary

High above the planet Florinia, the Squires of Sark live in unimaginable wealth and comfort. Down in the eternal spring of the planet, however, the native Florinians labor ceaselessly to produce the precious kyrt that brings prosperity to their Sarkite masters. Rebellion is unthinkable and impossible. Living among the workers of Florinia, Rik is a man without a memory or a past. He has been abducted and brainwashed. Barely able to speak or care for himself when he was found, Rik is widely regarded as a simpleton by the worker community where he lives. But as his memories begin to return, Rik finds himself driven by a cryptic message he is determined to deliver: Everyone on Florinia is doomed . . . the Currents of Space are bringing destruction. But if the planet is evacuated, the power of Sark will end--so some would finish the job and would kill the messenger. The fate of the Galaxy hangs in the balance.

Currents of Space is certainly not Asimov's best. However it is a good, solid stand alone story that is within his Galactic Empire Series (Stars Like Dust, Pebble in the Sky). These novels (along with the End of Eternity) fit (in my opinion) into a "boyhood sci-fi genre". Clever plot-lines that a re entertaining and keep your interest. I enjoyed it.

Would you recommend The Currents of Space to your friends? Why or why not?

I would. The under tones of racial prejudice and economics were reminiscent of Colonial America and, though simplistic were thought provoking. This is clearly not on par with Le Guin or Herbert but this is a fast paced story with a lot of turns in it, it reads more like a detective novel.

Which character – as performed by Kevin T. Collins – was your favorite?

His characterization of the Squires was fantastic. I frankly don't know how he could affect some of those accents, I found it impressive.Some people may find his feminization of some of the Squires offensive but it really put them in a light similar to the dandies of English Colonial America. I thought he did a great job.

Was The Currents of Space worth the listening time?

I decided to re-read all the Galactic Empire Series, which is the worth the time for me. If you will only read 1 non-Foundation Asimov I would recommend End of Eternity. But if you are a "completist" for Asimov's earlier work, then I think it is well worth the listen.

Any additional comments?

This novel is over 50 years old, some of the basic cosmological premises are no longer considered correct. Asimov was a tenured bio-chemistry professor, so his interest in science is clearly evident and far be it from me to criticize it. As a ready you will need to "suspend your disbelief" if you are hard sci-fi fan.I didn't find this to be a problem, the material was thought provoking on a social and scientific basis.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Currents of Space to be better than the print version?

Yes! This is my favorite of the 3 Empire series books. There is more suspense in this book than the others and you have that feeling of worrying about the characters like in a war movie. The characters are well developed and they stand out from one another as having distinct personalities. The people are divided into several levels of status and the relationships between them are interesting. Some of the older Asimov books have characters that are hard to tell apart. The plot is complex with plenty of mystery. The true nature of some of the characters is deceptive which makes the characters complex. There is a theme of oppression and there are parallels to European empires and their extractive societies in the new world. One funny twist is that the oppressed people have light skin while the oppressors have dark skin and dark hair. It's fascinating to see how something like this could happen between planets within a larger empire. It's cool to see how Trantor is portrayed as a ascending empire unlike the all powerful empire of Foundation. The narration of the audiobook is interesting because the narrator uses at least 6 different accents as the voices for the different levels of the societies and cultures. From the bottom class to the top class they range from southern-US hillbilly, irish, American, Russian, French, snotty british at the very top. The british overlords sound like Wooster in the PG Wodehouse Wooster and Jeeves books. It's pretty hilarious and makes the book especially entertaining.

the narrator did a great job - even keeping the accent between inter-planetary characters. Asimov as always delivers the sci-fi/detective story that keeps you interested and entertained - not too much detail to bore you just enough for the story.

This isn't formatted like a mystery novel though toward the end you do need some answers. The writing is engaging enough that there never seems to be "slow" parts. There isn't a lot of heavy milieu stuff like some Asimov. He really lets the story move with characters that you can care about. I think this is the best Asimov I've read/listened to to date.

I'm a fan of Isaac Asimov and just read "The Currents of Space" the second time. Years ago when I read all of Asimov's books, I thought the Galactic Empire series were not as good as the others. I later read somewhere (maybe in Asimov's memoir) that this series had a different publisher, and he accepted much of their changes despite his better judgment. This included changing the book titles (The Stars, like Dust; The Currents of Space; and Pebble in the Sky), which is why this series is slightly different from the rest of his books (Robot series and Foundation series).

If you like Isaac Asimov, read the books in chronological order (Robot, Galactic Empire, and Foundation). The Galactic Empire series is still good. Since it's been so long when I last read this book, I have forgotten the plot. In the usual Asimov's style, the reader is left guessing until the end. The only thing I didn't like about the book is that I think the pace is slow.

Another great Asimov story. The narrator makes some strange decision in regards to accents for the characters - but he is very consistent about it which make it easy to follow who is talking at any point in time. This is a nice sci-fi story written around a mystery. This story takes place in Asimov's galactic empire and again he has set this story during the time frame of the expansion period of the galactic empire from Trantor. I like the story, it is a quick read/listen and Asimov's universe is always consistent... which is nice going from book to book. Narration is decent too.

I believe early Asimov did not understand the difference between a novel and a short story. His short stories are usually pretty good. His novels early on are short stories lengthened with nothing new between.

Asimov was an idea man. He comes up with really great ideas, which are usually better showcased in short stories, such as The Big Question, An Ugly boy, and most robot stories. He develops better characters in his short stories, such as Susan Calvin.

These early empire novels are boring due to all the action and drama he tries to incorporate into the middle of them.

The Gods Themselves which he wrote later in his career is my favorite.

I would like to say that the narrator is excellent. He does not have a distinctive voice like John Lee, Stephen Rudnick, or Frank Muller, but that might actually be a plus. You spend less time admiring his voice and more attention to the story. Like Dick Hill, he has lots of talent and you may listen to several different books read by him and not even think about the narrator as it should be. He put a lot of work and feeling into a dull story. I hope I catch him in some better books.

Asimov has never been one of my favorite SF authors, but I fondly remember reading many of his short stories when I was a child. He seemed to do best in that form, as he was full of ideas and could pack his encyclopedic knowledge of everything under the sun into a few pages, and never mind the cardboard personalities of his characters.

The Currents of Space is set on the planet Florinia, whose inhabitants harvest "kyrt," which can be made into the most desirable cloth in the galaxy: it is super-durable, incredibly sheet, and infinitely useful. For some reason, kyrt only grows in the way it does on Florinia, among all the planets in the galaxy. (The reason for this is revealed in the climax.)

Florinia is ruled by the wealthy Sarkites, who profit from controlling the sole source of kyrt, and who treat the Florinians like serfs. Florinian society is divided into the laboring class and "Townsmen," who are the local representatives of Sarkite authority. They are educated and given special privileges, and so put above the ordinary Florinians. In other words, they're overseers.

When an amnesiac named Rik (which is a nickname meaning "idiot" to the Florinians) is found on Florinia, he triggers a series of escapades involving a cast of Florinians, Sarkites, and representatives from Trantor, the most powerful planet in the galaxy. The Trantorians dislike the Sarkites' oppression of the Florinians, but they fear being accused of imperialist ambitions themselves, and will not risk war with Sark - both because of galactic political sentiment, and because they'd risk cutting off the kyrt supply.

In case the metaphor eludes you, it's explicitly stated that kyrt, grown anywhere but on Florinia, is ordinary cotton. So the story turns out to be a combination of planetary adventure and morality tale; Florinia must be saved in more ways than one.

The plot was well written and brought out the motives and personalities of Florinians, Sarkites, and Trantorians, none of whom are wholly good or wholly evil. I was also pleased at Asimov's descriptions of this advanced interstellar civilization; despite being written in 1952, it was not as dated as some other Golden Age sci-fi. (Except for the women, of course. Asimov didn't treat his women as badly as Heinlein: he just treated them as woman-shaped plot devices.)

If you like good old-fashioned intelligent space opera in a perfectly self-contained story (The Currents of Space is supposedly part of a trilogy and linked to Asimov's Foundation series, but it stands alone just fine), it is definitely worth reading.

I found the narration to be particularly good in this audiobook, as Kevin T. Collins subtly shaded our perceptions of the characters by giving them definitive accents. The Sarkites: snooty and English. The Florinians: common and rural. A few of the cops ("patrollers") had Irish accents, and other characters likewise had accents that fit their personalities and roles in the story.

This is yet another shining example of Asimov???s grasp of theoretical physics and social responsibilities that was way ahead of his time. Considering that he wrote this in 1952, the science is sound concerning, the working of stars, and is still widely held by many experts today. He also addresses the disparity between the working class who are trapped by their linage and the aristocratic ruling classes with their view of cheapened life of these workers.

I was surprised and pleased when I realised this story was apparently a critique on European imperialism (in South America?). The critique focuses the harsh oppression of one people with a valuable natural resource by another more powerful people without, motivated by greed, and not saddled with a conscience.

There is somewhat less action and more in the way of detective work, economics, and social commentary than most sci-fi. I thought that made for an excellent story, even though Currents of Space is not regarded as one of Isaac Asimov's best works.

I particularly enjoyed the end where (***SPOILER ALERT!***) it is made clear that the types who get themselves into power are also the types whose consciences are not troubled in the least by the thought of subjugating and even murdering huge numbers of people to preserve their positions of power or wealth.

This book is part of the Empire series, but not having read any other books in that series, I can't say more about this fact other than the books are apparently so loosely connected that each stand on its own.

I recommend this book to fans of vintage sci-fi and especially those who enjoy it spiced with social commentary.